central Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Friday that the construction of Delhi-Dehradun Expressway will be completed in the next three months. With this, the travel time between the two cities is expected to reduce to two hours, which is currently five to six hours. Gadkari said at an event that the construction of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is expected to be completed within two months. With the completion of the expressway, the travel time between the two metros is expected to reduce from the current 24 hours to 12 hours. The minister said that the Delhi-Dehradun Highway Project has two packages.
PM Modi will inaugurate this project
Gadkari said, “A project worth Rs 10,000 crore has been approved for Kalindi Kunj in Delhi, which will extend to Faridabad. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to inaugurate this project within the next 15-20 days.” He said the Modi government is working to reduce air pollution, reduce imports of fossil fuels (coal, crude oil) and increase agricultural income. Gadkari said, “The transport ministry is responsible for 40 percent of air pollution. Whereas a large part of the pollution is due to stubble burning in the neighboring states – Punjab and Haryana. Road construction and fossil fuels also contribute to the annual problem.”
The problem of stubble burning will be solved in two years
The minister said the problem of stubble burning would be solved in two years, as the government is working on 400 projects that will convert 20 million tonnes of rice straw into alternative fuel every year. Gadkari said his ministry is working on 36 green express highways, which will help reduce logistics costs in the country. He said, “India’s logistics cost is 14-16 percent, whereas in China it is eight percent and in America and European Union (EU) it is 12 percent. Our target is to reduce it to nine percent in two years.” The minister said that this will increase India’s exports by 1.5 times and will help us become more competitive.
Every year 1,78,000 deaths occur in road accidents.
Regarding the increasing number of road accidents in India, Gadkari said that India ranks first in the world in terms of deaths due to them. Every year there are 1,78,000 deaths in five lakh accidents. This is due to bad roads, poor enforcement of laws and lack of education and awareness. “Despite hard work in the last 10 years, we have not succeeded in reducing road accidents in the country,” Gadkari admitted. The minister said his ministry’s recent steps to improve all ‘black spots’ (accident prone areas) on national highways, changing the bidding criteria for detailed project reports, etc. will help in reducing the number of accidents in the country.
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